“I’m Always this Close to Screaming: The Random Ruminations of a Traumatized Ninja” is the title of the book – a new literary art project, based in Freiburg in south-west Germany.
The book (mental health genre), centres on the wisdom that the Ninja gradually accumulated through painful experience, that can now be paid forward. The author is an experienced therapist in the creative arts and brigs in aspects of her therapy work into the character too.
The art project aspect: The book has been translated from English into three more languages: German, Russian, and Arabic. The plan is to “plant” the book around the world, e.g. in cafés or waiting rooms, or on trains, parks and buses with the intention that someone happens upon it by chance. Perhaps they will relate to the images and captions. Perhaps they will enjoy the message inside from the author, describing how determined she was to be heard, to see how far her voice could travel, without a publisher, without investment and without censorship. The finder is asked not to keep the book, but to take comfort from it and then to pass it on to someone who might appreciate it.
Every finder of the book is encouraged to check into the website or Instagram so that the book’s progress can be tracked. Finders are, of course, not obliged to do this. The aim is to facilitate the spreading of the book around the globe. Once that is done, the author will be satisfied.
But the author is only 50% of the project. Bernd and Wendy evolved the design concept but Bernd took responsibility for layout, type-setting, editing, and printing the book as well as taking care of the website and setting up the shop and social media channels-